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OG Xbox Forums => Hardware Forums => Xbox Audio/Video Technical => Topic started by: hacman007 on September 04, 2006, 10:07:00 PM

Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: hacman007 on September 04, 2006, 10:07:00 PM
Hi all,

I made a vga adapter using textbook's tutorial (awesome tutorial btw), and I'm sure everything is ok, the connexant dualboot patch is installed correctly, the vga adapter is built properly (without a sync separator). But once I connect my lcd (2007WFP from dell) to the xbox, it just gives me "signal out of range" when booting to XBMC (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)  . I tried completely unninstalling the softmod and putting the msdash back in, connected everything, pressed L-R-R stick-L stick, still nothing. I even sacrificed another video card thinking that was the problem and rebuilt everything, but it's still hopeless. What could the problem be here?? Cuz I'm about to go ballistic over this thing (IMG:style_emoticons/default/grr.gif) !!  btw I also tried it with my 17" HP crt , and that one just displays different color squares as if it wasn't even connected!!

Thanx in advance.
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: The Zep Man on September 05, 2006, 08:10:00 AM
More information, please.

What version is your Xbox?

Is your Xbox PAL or NTSC?

What mode did you solder the cable? 1+3 or 2+3?

What version of MS Dashboard do you have?

This post has been edited by The Zep Man: Sep 5 2006, 03:10 PM
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: Textbook on September 05, 2006, 09:27:00 AM
I guess I need to update my guide  huh.gif

The "Conexant Softmod Solution" was just a workaround when Dr. Oldschool couldn't get VGA working with Conexant chips.  He eventually did figure it out and got it all fixed up, but I forgot to update the tutorial.  If you look at his thread, you can compile your own nkpatcher, now with 720p support as well!
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: FrostyTheSnowman on September 05, 2006, 09:50:00 AM
QUOTE(hacman007 @ Sep 4 2006, 10:07 PM) View Post

Hi all,

I made a vga adapter using textbook's tutorial (awesome tutorial btw), and I'm sure everything is ok, the connexant dualboot patch is installed correctly, the vga adapter is built properly (without a sync separator). But once I connect my lcd (2007WFP from dell) to the xbox, it just gives me "signal out of range" when booting to XBMC huh.gif  . I tried completely unninstalling the softmod and putting the msdash back in, connected everything, pressed L-R-R stick-L stick, still nothing. I even sacrificed another video card thinking that was the problem and rebuilt everything, but it's still hopeless. What could the problem be here?? Cuz I'm about to go ballistic over this thing grr.gif !!  btw I also tried it with my 17" HP crt , and that one just displays different color squares as if it wasn't even connected!!

Thanx in advance.


I'm guessing your monitors do NOT support Sync-on-Green. If they infact do not support this feature, you will need the sync splitter, or your cable will never work with your monitor.

The reason why I assume that the cable is your problem is because you should see atleast the MS Dashboard with the button trick, as long as you have 480p enabled.

Of course, the problem could always just be the 'Conexant Softmod Solution' you used. I seriously recommend using NKPatcher v10-vga10. If you need someone to customize a verison of NKPatcher to suit your system, I would be happy to help. You can either PM me, or reply in this thread.
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: hacman007 on September 05, 2006, 12:45:00 PM
Well about SOG, it says in the monitor specifications that it has it, that's whay I didn't put a sync splitter. Is there any way I can verify if my monitor has sog for sure?

FrostyTheSnowman, I would really appreciate it if you could customize a version of NKPatcher v10-vga10 for my system, just tell me what info you will need.

And zep man, what did you mean by 1+3 or 2+3?

Btw, I didn't open the xbox to see what graphic chip I had, I just went by XBMC in system info as it says that I have a CONNEXANT video encoder. Also my xbox is 1.3, and that's the encoder used in this version. Do I have to open it to make sure that it's a connexant?

Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: FrostyTheSnowman on September 05, 2006, 01:47:00 PM
All I need is 2 things:

1. Where is your dashboard located? Example: E:\Dashboard\default.xbe

2. Do you use an F drive ONLY, or do you use F AND G?

3. Are you using a PAL, or an NTSC console?

EDIT: And BTW, if you followed Textbook's diagrams exactly, then you are using 2+3. (Which IS the correct mode. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif))

This post has been edited by FrostyTheSnowman: Sep 5 2006, 08:50 PM
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: hacman007 on September 05, 2006, 02:31:00 PM
QUOTE(FrostyTheSnowman @ Sep 5 2006, 03:47 PM) *

All I need is 2 things:

1. Where is your dashboard located? Example: E:\Dashboard\default.xbe

2. Do you use an F drive ONLY, or do you use F AND G?

3. Are you using a PAL, or an NTSC console?

EDIT: And BTW, if you followed Textbook's diagrams exactly, then you are using 2+3. (Which IS the correct mode. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif))


1. My main dash: /E/Dashboard//default.xbe

2.Stock hard drive, so no F or G

3.NTSC system

Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: FrostyTheSnowman on September 05, 2006, 03:38:00 PM
Alrighty, check back here in about an hour, and I will have your custom NKPatcher v10-vga10 posted. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

This post has been edited by FrostyTheSnowman: Sep 5 2006, 10:40 PM
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: FrostyTheSnowman on September 05, 2006, 06:18:00 PM
Sorry it's late, you know, homework and all. (College kicks your ass...)

Anyway though, here's the custom NKPatcher I promised you.

Simply rename nkpatcher.xbe to whatever you need it to be in order to boot.

http://forums.ngemu....l-nkpatcher.rar
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: hacman007 on September 05, 2006, 06:51:00 PM
QUOTE(FrostyTheSnowman @ Sep 5 2006, 08:25 PM) *

Sorry it's late, you know, homework and all. (College kicks your ass...)

Anyway though, here's the custom NKPatcher I promised you.

Simply rename nkpatcher.xbe to whatever you need it to be in order to boot.

http://forums.ngemu.com/attachments/misc-p...l-nkpatcher.rar



Thanx a lot snow. I used Krayzie's Ndure to softmod, so do i just put nkpatcher.xbe in the NKpatcher folder in my REAL C, then rename it default.xbe??
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: FrostyTheSnowman on September 05, 2006, 07:34:00 PM
Yep. Although this version doesn't have shadowc support at the moment,  so your shadowc and shadowEEPROM will not work at the moment. (I did this so we could test this NKPatcher version on your system, and easily change it back if it didn't work.)

So yes, just rename it and put it in the right place. If it works properly, let me know, and I will customize a more permanent NKPatcher version.
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: hacman007 on September 05, 2006, 08:36:00 PM
Just before I go through with this, if the vga connection doesn't work, will I still be able to use my Svideo with this nkpatcher?? I mean to switch between 480p/720p AND 480i, it's done automaticly right?
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: hacman007 on September 05, 2006, 09:02:00 PM
Well I just tried it, and whad'ya know!! it works!! altought not 100%... sad.gif

By not 100% I mean at least there's and image on the screen this time using my vga cable, but it's forcing into 480i!!  blink.gif When I try going to the msdash, the screen becomes all black!! also, there are some annoying vertical lines on the screen, is that because it's in 480i, or because of my cable. Finally, when it's supposed to show the startup logo, it gives me the freakin' "out of range signal" message...  :huh
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: FrostyTheSnowman on September 05, 2006, 10:20:00 PM
OK, so, the startup 'X' logo not showing up is absolutely normal, because NKPatcher doesn't get loaded until the end of it. SO, let's finalize your mod now.

What I need you to do is this:

1. There will be a folder called 'shadowc' on your C drive, I need you to copy this folder to your E drive. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT that you do this. When you are done, you should have the 'shadowc' folder on your E drive, and it should contain shadowc.img and eeprom.bin within it.

2. Install this updated copy of NKPatcher (at the bottom of this post) the same way you did before. (Rename and place in the proper directory.)

3. Restart your XBOX, then try to go to the MS Dashboard again, it should now work.

4. In the MS Dashboard, enable the 480p/720p resolutions in your video settings.

5. Restart your XBOX, and all should be well. If you have any problems, PM me or post here.


UPDATED NKPatcher:

http://forums.ngemu.com/attachments/misc-p...d_nkpatcher.rar

This post has been edited by FrostyTheSnowman: Sep 6 2006, 05:21 AM
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: hacman007 on September 07, 2006, 12:56:00 AM
ok well it's working, and I really appreciate your help snowman, but the vertical line are still there. sad.gif

At first I tought it was my cable, like some kind of distortion or something similar, but after trying some games, I found out it has to do with the display mode, and it was indeed a 480p problem. A game that supports 720p like MX vs ATV for ex., will display in crystal clear 720p with no lines. But a game that only has 480p (95% of xbox games...), will give me the vertical lines.

Same thing in  xbmc, when set to 720p, it looks really good, but once set to 480p (4:3 or 16:9), I see those annoying vertical transparent lines!!

Does this have to do with my graphic chip (connexant), the NKpatcher you gave me or my display (2007wfp)?

I'm thinking of creating another topic since this is a different issue, maybe someone else also got this problem.

Btw, snowman can you show me how to modify the nkpatcher you gave me so the shadow c can be put in the C drive like before??
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: FrostyTheSnowman on September 07, 2006, 06:48:00 AM
Well, having the 'shadowc' on the C drive is a little complicated, and unfortunately I haven't learned how to do this myself either. I'm pretty sure that Krazie's NDURE is the only softmod that actually does it that way, and I can't seem to get it working on the C drive with any other version of NKPatcher. But, on the bright side, atleast all is well, aside from the 480p problem with your monitor.

And as far as your monitor showing lines at 480p goes, I think it's just your monitor not liking the 480p resolution. Using another monitor would most likely fix your problem. Personally, I used the LM1881N sync splitter, and i've never had any problems with ANY monitor i've ever tried it with. I recommend trying that if all else fails...
Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: FrostyTheSnowman on September 07, 2006, 07:35:00 AM
I think I may have figured it out. Try this version of NKPatcher, and tell me if it works.

1. Move the shadowc back over to your C drive.

2. Replace your current NKPatcher with this one.

3. Reboot, and tell me if it works.

NOTE: Be sure to keep a copy of the currently working NKPatcher if this doesn't work. Although, I created this to be similar to the way the original NDURE NKPatcher works, so this SHOULD work perfectly for you. Be sure to reply to this thread and tell me if it works for you.

http://forums.ngemu....nkpatcher_2.rar

Title: Signal Out Of Range (custome Made Vga)
Post by: FrostyTheSnowman on September 08, 2006, 05:05:00 PM
LOL, yeah, typically shadowc.img and eeprom.bin both need to be in a directory called 'shadowc', so that's how I set it up. I guess Krayzie and Kingroach simply put them in the root of the drive instead of a folder.

In any case though, glad it's working for ya. PM me if you have any future problems.  beerchug.gif